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War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714)
The War of the Spanish Succession was a major European conflict of the early 18th century, triggered by the death in 1700 of the last Habsburg King of Spain, the infirm and childless Charles II. Charles II had ruled over a large active empire which spanned the globe, and the question of who would succeed him had long troubled ministers in capitals throughout Europe. Attempts to solve the problem by partitioning the empire between the eligible candidates from the royal houses of France, Austria, and Bavaria ultimately failed, and on his deathbed, Charles II fixed the entire Spanish inheritance on his grandnephew Philip, Duke of Anjou, the second-eldest grandson of King Louis XIV of France. With Philip ruling in Spain, Louis XIV would secure great advantages for his dynasty, but some statesmen regarded a dominant House of Bourbon as a threat to European stability, jeopardising the balance of power. Louis XIV had good reasons for accepting his grandson on the Spanish thrones, but he subsequently made a series of controversial moves: he sent troops to secure the Spanish Netherlands; he sought to dominate the Spanish American trade at the expense of English and Dutch merchants; and he refused to remove Philip from the French line of succession, thereby reopening the possibility of France and Spain uniting under a single powerful monarch at a future date. To counter Louis XIV's growing dominance, England, the Dutch Republic, and Austria – together with their allies in the Holy Roman Empire – re-formed the 1680's Grand Alliance and supported Emperor Leopold I's claim to the whole Spanish inheritance for his second son, Archduke Charles. By backing the Habsburg candidate each member of the coalition sought to reduce the power of France, ensure their own territorial and dynastic security, and restore and improve the trade opportunities they had enjoyed under Charles II. The English, the Dutch and the Austrians formally declared war in May 1702. By 1708 the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy had secured victory in the Spanish Netherlands and in Italy and had defeated Louis XIV's ally, Bavaria. France faced invasion and ruin, but Allied unity broke first. With the Grand Alliance defeated in Spain, and with its casualties mounting and aims diverging, the Tories came to power in Great Britain in 1710 and resolved to end the war. French and British ministers prepared the groundwork for a peace conference and in 1712 Britain ceased combat operations. The Dutch, Austrians and German states fought on to strengthen their own negotiating position but defeated by Marshal Villars they had to accept Anglo-French mediation. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) and the Treaty of Rastatt partitioned the Spanish empire between the major and minor powers. The Austrians received most of Spain's former European realms, but the Duke of Anjou retained peninsular Spain and Spanish America, where, after renouncing his claim to the French succession, he reigned as King Philip V until 1746. The European balance of power was assured.